Middle-income New Yorkers aged 65 and older are likely to see a tax break next year from the sprawling federal tax and spending legislation, but tax analysts say Social Security income won’t be tax free, contrary to Trump campaign promises.

Keshia Clukey reports in NEWSDAY that the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4, includes a $6,000 tax deduction for seniors starting in the 2025 tax year and expiring by 2029. The deduction phases out for higher income levels, so single filers earning $175,000 or more and married filers earning $250,000 or more will not benefit.

In New York State, 3.7 million residents, or about 1 in 5, receive Social Security benefits, according to AARP.

Trump promised to eliminate the tax on Social Security benefits in his 2024 campaign, but tax analysts say that’s not what this bill does. Instead, it reduces income taxes for seniors on all incomes including Social Security, according to tax analysts.

"There’s some miscommunication," said Joseph Perry, a national tax leader in the Melville office of CBIZ, a national adviser of tax, accounting, advisory, benefits, insurance and technology services.

The bill will mean fewer seniors have to pay taxes, particularly when coupled with an increase in the standard deduction of $750 for single filers and $1,500 for married couples, Perry told Newsday. However, Barry A. Kaufmann, president of the New York State Alliance for Retired Americans, a senior advocacy group with 670,000 members representing retirees across the state, tells NEWSDAY, "Overall it’s a lousy bill. If you throw in a $6,000 sweetener, that doesn’t get rid of the pain that’s caused to seniors." Kaufmann also noted that the deduction ends in 2028, adding, "This is not a forever thing. It’s very limited in scope."

With more seniors paying less income taxes on their benefits, it means less revenue going toward Social Security’s two trust funds, policy experts and tax analysts said. Taxes on benefits make up a very small portion of the program’s total revenue, but the trust funds already are projected to run short if Congress doesn’t act, according to AARP.

***

A pop-up event set to last three days ended after just 40 minutes this past Wednesday when East Hampton Village officials walked over to Herrick Park and found what one said looked like a car dealership with General Motors vehicles. East Hampton Village Administrator Marcos Baladron later described the move as a “trojan horse,” as the village had permitted an educational event. Jack Motz reports on 27east.com that Wednesday morning, General Motors event organizers began unloading equipment and supplies from trucks, as the company planned to showcase about a half dozen cars from its subsidiaries, including Cadillac and Chevrolet, for the next three days. The idea was to show the company’s portfolio of electric vehicles. Less than a minute into the first day, Larry Cantwell, a former village administrator and town supervisor, walked by and realized it was a pop-up marketing event for General Motors. Cantwell told Brad Billet, the president of the East Hampton Village Foundation, that he thought the event inappropriate. Not long after, Cantwell took to Facebook to ask: “New General Motors dealership opened today on Herrick Park. When will the exploitation end?” At around 2 p.m., Mayor Jerry Larsen announced on the village’s official Facebook page that leadership had revoked the permit for the car event because it was outside the scope of what it had originally permitted. By evening, the company had vacated the space.

The original application did not list General Motors. Instead, it gave the name of a limited liability company. The Village of East Hampton, then, gave the green light for an electric vehicle education program...not a sales event. General Motors provided a statement that said the company wishes to...

On sweltering summer mornings, while sprinklers spin atop freshly cut lawns, showers are taken and pools are filled across the North Fork, officials at the Suffolk County Water Authority hold their breath. Tara Smith reports in NEWSDAY that seasonal overpumping, driven by irrigation, puts the agency in the “danger zone” in Southold, threatening water quality and capacity for emergencies. Water usage in the Town of Southold has nearly doubled in the past two decades, according to data provided by the agency.

The water authority is proposing a new $35 million pipeline to pump water from the pine barrens north and then northeast to Southold Town on the North Fork as it tries to keep pace with demand. The proposal has sparked debate over conservation and development pressure in the region.

The pipeline, which officials hope to complete by 2030, would stretch 8.5 miles from Flanders in Southampton to the Southold town line, bringing up to 6,000 gallons per minute to boost supply and reduce stress on existing public wells. A second proposed phase would extend public water 3.8 miles from East Marion to Orient, the easternmost tip of the fork. The Suffolk County Water Authority is in the process of conducting an environmental review. Tensions over the proposal were on full display at a recent community forum in Peconic. There, Southold residents, environmental groups and elected officials said the increased demand for water shows a dire need for conservation — and that supplying more water could be a catalyst for development on the North Fork. About 70% of water pumped in the summer is for irrigation.

Surging demand at peak summer periods puts stress on the water supply, according to the Suffolk County Water Authority, which serves 9,500 properties in Southold from about 60 shallow wells. Straining the supply puts the wells at risk from saltwater intrusion and other contaminants and places the agency in the “danger zone,” Jeff Szabo, the authority's CEO, said in an interview.

The pipeline would allow water to be pumped from the "South Shore Low Zone" in the Town of Southampton, an area with deeper supply, officials said.

“Every morning, the area I’m concerned about is the North Fork, because when it’s hot … we have every well running,” Szabo said. “Our tanks are draining down to, at times, just a couple of feet.”

***

An affordable housing developer who has worked with Southampton and East Hampton towns on several previous projects has proposed building a 40-unit rental apartment complex with a ground-floor retail space in Riverside. Georgica Green Ventures, a Jericho-based development firm, has applied to the Southampton Town Community Housing Fund for a $2.4 million grant to help cover the purchase cost of about an acre of land off Flanders Road near the Riverside traffic circle. Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that the Southampton Town Board will hold a public hearing on the CHF grant request on August 12 at 1 p.m. The town’s Community Housing Fund Advisory Committee has recommended that the town grant the funding award. The Community Housing Fund draws revenues from a half-percent sales tax on most real estate transactions and earmarks it for housing-related funding programs intended to increase the supply of residential units affordable to low and middle income residents increasingly priced out of the south fork housing market by soaring prices driven by second-home and investment markets. The project will not move forward until the planned Riverside sewage treatment plant is completed. The apartments would be built on three properties that Gerogica Green plans to purchase at 47 Flanders Road, just steps from the Riverside traffic circle and on the fringes of the land that the Town of Southampton has targeted to anchor the revitalization of the Riverside hamlet.

***

This Saturday – tomorrow - is a chance to explore the 20...

Leaders on the East End agree that more affordable housing could prop up a year-round economy, legacy industries are worth preserving and infrastructure investments will strengthen the region. Tara Smith reports in NEWSDAY that though they differ on specific tactics, the five East End town supervisors emphasized unity during a panel discussion yesterday the Long Island Association moderated at East Wind Long Island in Wading River.

"We are all very different towns ... but we have a lot of the same issues," Riverhead Supervisor Tim Hubbard said. "Democrat or Republican ... at this level, it means the least. A good idea is a good idea."

Hubbard was joined by Amber Brach-Williams of Shelter Island, a fellow Republican, and Democratic Supervisors Al Krupski of Southold, Maria Moore of Southampton and Kathee Burke-Gonzalez from East Hampton for the "State of the East End" forum. All five are first-term supervisors who took office in 2024. Wednesday’s forum was the first to focus specifically on the East End, building on an effort by the Long Island Association to better support the region.

"You might just think Hamptons and mansions and millionaires, but the truth is, there are people that are bussing your table or working at the dry cleaner or a lifeguard at the beach and they can’t afford that million-dollar house," Matt Cohen, the president of the Long Island Association, said. "We really have to try to work together to fix these challenges." Some east end towns are eyeing ways to revamp zoning codes to accommodate more businesses and affordable housing on the twin forks.

***

The Southampton Town Board unanimously approved a sweeping rezoning of a swath of Montauk Highway on the edge of downtown Hampton Bays this week.

Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that the move came barely a month after the legislation proposing the change was first introduced, and over the vociferous objections of a businessman - Joseph Lustberg, one of the owners of the cannabis company Mottz Green Grocer, which had designs on opening in the former North Fork Bank building in Hampton Bays. Lustberg had planned to open a cannabis dispensary that will now be forestalled by the new zoning rules. The vote this past Tuesday will rezone two dozen properties along Montauk Highway, all to the east of downtown Hampton Bays, which are currently in a highway business zone, to hamlet commercial, and two more from highway business to village business. The uses allowed in the hamlet commercial and village business zones encourage smaller-scale development of properties suitable for the transition areas surrounding downtown areas. Under Southampton Town code, cannabis dispensaries are only allowed in highway business zones. After a single public hearing session and a two-week comment period, which ended on Tuesday, the board added approval of the rezoning legislation to its agenda for this week’s meeting.

***

Islip’s Long Island MacArthur Airport is slated to receive $3 million worth of security upgrades within the next eight months, according to town Aviation Commissioner Rob Schneider.

Sam Kmack reports in NEWSDAY that the Town of Islip announced yesterday that it was awarded a federal grant to cover the cost of the upgrades. They will include roughly 7 miles of improved fencing around the airport, and new security cameras around the perimeter.

Town Councilman John Lorenzo, the district representative for the airport, said the project, which has been in the works for about five years, is needed to “keep our airfields safe and secure for the future.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation funding will be used to replace the airport’s existing 6-foot fence with a new 8-foot fence topped with barbed wire.

The grant also will fund a “state of the art” security camera system along the airport’s boundaries.

The taller fence will help the

The U.S. Department of Education has launched an investigation into the Connetquot school district for "actively taking steps to erase its Native American mascot and imagery," the federal agency announced yesterday. Darwin Yanes reports in NEWSDAY that the Connetquot School District, whose nickname is the Thunderbirds, has fought a state mandate banning such imagery in public schools. But in a letter to the community in June, Connetquot schools Superintendent Joseph T. Centamore said the district was "exploring options for an alternative mascot name that remains relatable to our community, such as 'Thunder,' while maintaining imagery that feels familiar to our history, including the lightning bolt and eagle-like bird."

The federal Education Department's Office of Civil Rights determined in May that the state's ban violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination in federally funded education programs on the basis of race, color, or national origin.

"The Department of Education has been clear with the state of New York: It is neither legal nor right to prohibit Native American mascots and logos while celebrating European and other cultural imagery in schools," U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a news release Tuesday. "New York’s patronizing attitude toward Native Americans must end. We will continue to support the Native American community and ensure their heritage is equally protected under the law."

New York State Education Department spokesman J.P. O'Hare said in a statement to Newsday: "All but one school district in New York — Massapequa — has either complied with or is actively working to comply with the state’s regulations regarding the use of Indigenous mascots ... Like the previous 'investigation' involving the state Education Department, we anticipate that the U.S. Department of Education will ignore the law — including the unsuccessful lawsuits filed by Long Island school districts — in favor of its predetermined outcome."

The New York State Board of Regents in 2023 banned the use of Native American mascots, team names and logos in public schools. Local Native American groups have said the school districts' mascots and imagery promote "a stereotypical image" of their community and damage Indigenous children's self-esteem.

***

Federal immigration agents were seen outside a house on Scuttlhole Road in Bridgehampton yesterday, where they took one person into custody, local officials confirmed. As reported on 27east.com, several agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and possibly other law enforcement agencies were recorded on video by passersby gathered outside a house on Scuttlehole Road before sunrise on Tuesday. Southampton Town Police Chief James Kiernan said that his department was asked to send officers to the scene to keep traffic on the roadway flowing safely during the morning rush hour since the agents conducting the raid came in at least a half-dozen vehicles that had nowhere to stop but on the road shoulder. Chief Kiernan said the ICE agents had a warrant for the arrest of a person believed to be in the Bridgehampton house, but he did not know who the person was.

***

A new bottle-guzzling sculpture was unveiled yesterday in downtown Riverhead, near the River and Roots Community Garden and playground adjacent to the intersection of West Main Street and Griffing Avenue in Riverhead. The four-foot by seven-foot receptacle is made of mesh wire and recycled materials.

This is Riverhead Town’s second “litter critter”; a similarly eye-catching fish-shaped receptacle has been helping curb litter at Iron Pier Beach in Northville since last year.

Alek Lewis reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the bee was designed and built by local sculptor Clayton Orehek and funded by the North Fork...

Six months after Manhattan’s congestion pricing tolls switched on, drivers are spending less time in traffic — both within the toll zone and in the surrounding area, according to multiple data sources. At the same time, recent polls show opposition has dropped significantly in suburban areas like Long Island, from 72% a year ago to 48% in May, though more residents oppose it than support it outside New York City.

Peter Gill reports in NEWSDAY that commute times through the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, including the last three miles of the Long Island Expressway are down 22%, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Another report, using data from the Waze driving app, found jams reduced not only in Manhattan, but also in the outer boroughs and parts of New Jersey during the first 16 weeks of the program. Commute times for Long Islanders who drive or take the bus into the tolling zone were down as much as 13 minutes during the first two months of the program, according to another analysis using MTA bus data.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority imposed congestion pricing earlier this year to bust stubborn traffic in Manhattan and to generate a new stream of money for public transportation projects, including for subways, buses and the Long Island Rail Road. The measure has endured a vow from President Donald Trump to kill the program and blistering criticism from some suburban drivers, who say it would hurt the city’s economy and further burden overtaxed New Yorkers. The first-in-the nation program, which charges $9 for most vehicles driving below 60th Street, began Jan. 5 and is on track to raise $500 million from drivers this year, including $61 million in May alone.

The toll is scheduled to stay at $9 until 2028, when it will increase to $12; then it will go up to $15 in 2031.

***

Stephen J. Kotz reports on 27east.com that WLIW-FM of Southampton has joined in a suit challenging President Donald Trump’s recent executive order, “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media,” that the president signed in May.

Earlier this month, the local NPR station, which is owned by the WNET Group of New York City, filed a friend of the court brief supporting the effort by other NPR stations to overturn the president’s executive order.

But it may not matter if the suit is successful, as the Republican majority in Congress is already weighing two other options to cut off federal funding, and thus cripple public broadcasting in this country.

“It’s a distressing time — it’s really an inflection point,” said Bob Feinberg, the chief counsel for the WNET Group. “This is an existential threat to a very important, independent voice in our media landscape.”

Besides the president’s executive order, which is being challenged on grounds that the president does not have authority to eliminate funding that has been approved by Congress, as well as a free speech argument, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting faces a threat from a rescission bill, which, Feinberg said, is attempting “to claw back” $550 million in funding for each of 2026 and 2027.

That measure has already been approved by the House and is currently before the Senate, which has until July 18 to act.

Funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has also been eliminated in the massive tax cut and spending bill, “the One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” for which a final vote is still needed to approve the legislation…although approval appears imminent.

The Corporation for...

A private citizen’s novel plan to develop individual condominiums as affordable housing took its first step when the East Hampton Town Planning Board met the pitch favorably but cautiously at its most recent meeting. Jack Motz reports on 27east.com that if approved, the plan, pitched by Kirby Marcantonio, the publisher of Montauk Life and Hamptons Life magazines and a workforce housing proponent, would be to develop 47 affordable housing units spread across seven two-story buildings on a vacant 4-acre lot on Pantigo Road in East Hampton. Once built, the idea is for local employers to purchase individual units for employees to lease under terms agreed upon by the landlord and renter. In contrast, almost all other affordable developments in East Hampton Town are owned and operated by a single, certified housing corporation. To live there, tenants would have to qualify for affordable housing by maintaining a salary within 130 percent of area median income. The developers would cap the rent at half the market rate. Marcantonio said the starting price of a house in East Hampton today is $1.2 million to $1.3 million, which is far out of reach for any local resident or local worker. With that in mind, he began casting around for affordable housing ideas, as informed by his real estate background. Marcantonio will now have to submit formal plans once ready, which will take two or three months, and he hopes to get approval sometime early next year, so he can break ground on the development.

***

A new $40,000 limit on state and local tax deductions, known as SALT, would be a win for many New Yorkers, tax analysts told Newsday, but provisions in the bill the Senate passed yesterday could limit the number of people who benefit. The bill passed by the Senate sets an income threshold, so only those earning $500,000 annually or less could take advantage of the full $40,000 cap. The cap would remain at $10,000 for those earning $600,000 or more. The bill also raises the “standard deduction,” allowing more people to take advantage of the higher deduction and reducing the number of people itemizing and taking advantage of the increased SALT cap, tax analysts said.

Keshia Clukey reports in NEWSDAY that the SALT deduction allows filers who itemize to subtract some of their state and local taxes from their taxable income.

The bill also increases the standard deduction, which currently is set for $15,000 for single filers and $30,000 for married filers for the 2025 tax year, according to the Internal Revenue Service. The vast majority of taxpayers take advantage of the standard deduction instead of itemizing.

The U.S. Senate passed its version of the bill in a 51-50 vote on Tuesday, largely along party lines, and the House narrowly passed its version in a 215-214 vote on May 22. The bill now goes back to the House for final approval — though lawmakers must agree on the final language. President Trump has been pushing for Congress to pass the measure before the Fourth of July.

***

Peak season for political fundraising on the east end is underway as New York City Mayor Eric Adams will be feted at a power Hamptons fundraiser on Saturday as he gains momentum following former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s stunning defeat in the NYC Democratic Mayoral Primary. Ian Mohr reports in THE NY POST that power couple Maria and Kenneth Fishel will host an Adams reelection event at their Bridgehampton estate, according to an invitation seen by Page Six, along with John and Margo...

Witnesses and court documents gave new details yesterday about the alleged drunken driving crash that destroyed paintings and sculpture works at a Montauk art show over the weekend. Nicholas Spangler reports in NEWSDAY that a security guard working an overnight shift at the Carl Fisher Plaza pavilion, Kyle Thomas Pomerantz, told police in a statement that about 3 a.m. Sunday he narrowly missed being struck after hearing "a loud crashing noise directly behind me. ... I rolled out of my chair to my right, at which time I saw a gray colored SUV barreling towards us."

At the wheel, according to police, was Nicoly Ribeiro De Souza, 23, of Farmingville, charged with driving while intoxicated and six counts of reckless criminal mischief after allegedly driving into the pavilion and hitting tents in which artwork was being stored overnight, causing an estimated $151,045 in damage, according to charging documents.

According to Pomerantz's sworn statement to police, De Souza told him she and another woman, her passenger in the Nissan Rogue, had just left the Surf Lodge, a nightlife hot spot on nearby Edgemere Street. Pomerantz told police he felt lucky to be alive.

"I thought we were going to be struck and we would be dead," he told police.

East Hampton Town police reportedly visited the Surf Lodge on Monday to review security camera footage.

John Papaleo, an art fair organizer and EMT said the SUV "hit it so hard the barrier ended up 100 feet away. The post it was connected to was ripped completely out of the ground."

The SUV continued past a gazebo in the middle of the pavilion and stopped near Pomerantz’s Toyota Tacoma, Papaleo said.

Papaleo said the crash would devastate the artists whose work was ruined.

He said dozens of artists were affected, including many who live on Long Island.

Papaleo said the Montauk Artists Association, which sponsored the art fair, still hopes to hold an August event at the pavilion, though the group's leaders will consult with town officials over safety. He hopes the area can be made more secure but not fortified. "It's a park — you don't want it to look like a prison," he said.

A spokesman for East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said that she and town public safety officials at a meeting tomorrow "will be reviewing this incident, and what further steps may be appropriate."

***

The Shinnecock Nation, in an elevation of its discord with the Town of Southampton, has made three formal requests, including a public demand, that its official tribal seal be removed from the town hall's main meeting room. Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that at a town board meeting last week, Shinnecock vice chairman Lance Gumbs made the request after he said the town ignored two letters from chairwoman Lisa Goree for the seal’s removal. The move follows a series of legal challenges by the town against the tribe. The seal has been on the wall at the town hall meeting room since 2008.

"It is clear that there is great disdain in this town for the Shinnecock people, the Shinnecock Nation," Gumbs said from the podium, after a resident had questioned the nation’s ownership of its entire 80-acre Westwoods property. (A town councilman made clear to the resident that the Shinnecock Nation owns Westwoods.)

In response, Southampton Supervisor Maria Moore read a letter to Goree drawn up on Tuesday, saying the town "would like the seal to remain in its current place" in town hall.

"We understand and...

A driver crashed through a wooden barricade at Montauk Green early yesterday, damaging tents and artwork set up there for the annual Montauk Art Show, police and organizers said. Tracy Tullis reports in NEWSDAY that the driver, Nicoly Ribeiro De Souza, 23, of Farmingville, was taken to a nearby hospital with minor injuries. Ms. De Souza was charged with driving while intoxicated and six counts of reckless criminal mischief, according to the East Hampton Town Police Department.

No other injuries were reported.

At about 3 a.m. Sunday, the Nissan Rogue crashed through six tents, causing extensive damage, said John Papaleo, a member of the executive board of the Montauk Artists Association, which sponsors the art show.

"There’s well over $100,000 worth of damage" to the artwork and the tents, Papaleo said.

"These people that come to these shows, this is how they make their living," he said. "This is their livelihood."

The Montauk Art Show, which opened on Friday, features the work of local and touring artists. About 50 people worked to clean up the damaged tents and other debris, Papaleo said, so the show could open on schedule at 10 a.m. Sunday.

The association’s member tent was also wrecked, according to Evan Reinheimer, a photographer who was exhibiting and is on the show’s organizing committee. About 30 artists’ work was displayed in that tent, most of it damaged or destroyed, he said.

The loss of artwork is devastating for these artists, Reinheimer said. Some of them "may have had their whole inventory in their booth," he said.

***

A reality television star and Long Island restaurateur has sued the Village of Greenport and its mayor in federal court, alleging the municipality “targeted” his Mediterranean restaurant in an effort to shut it down.

Joseph Ostapiuk reports in NEWSDAY that Zeynel — or Zach — Erdem sued Greenport Village and Mayor Kevin Stuessi in federal court on June 23. Erdem is a star of HBO Max's “Serving the Hamptons,” which follows him and the staff of his Southampton restaurant, 75 Main. Zerdem also operates the Blu Mar Hamptons restaurant in Southampton.

The suit alleged that Greenport had issued “bogus tickets” and shut down ZErdem, his restaurant, during one of its first opening weekends in June 2023, according to the 18-page complaint filed in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York.

Erdem alleged the Village of Greenport violated state and federal due process laws, and that his restaurant was treated differently than other nearby ones. Zerdem is seeking damages “in excess of $5 million,” according to the complaint.

In 2023, the village sued Erdem in Suffolk Supreme Court over alleged code violations, online court records show.

Timothy Hill, Erdem's attorney, told NEWSDAY that the village's actions were "an example of shocking disregard of the proper and constitutional procedures that need to be followed."

Hill said authorities "stormed" into ZErdem without a warrant in June 2023 and that the Village of Greenport “timed its unlawful raid and closure so as to disable the restaurant on one of its first opening weekends.”

Hill claims nearby restaurants weren’t issued violations despite having similar conditions on their properties, according to the filing against the Village of Greenport and its mayor.

ZErdem has been open for the past two summers.